Bring perpetrators to book, demands Amnesty India

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 31

Amnesty International India said here today that the immunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of the 1984 Sikh massacre must end immediately and the authorities should ensure that all those responsible were brought to book.

During a discussion, ‘Chauraasi Ki Nainsaafi’, to mark the 33rd anniversary of the carnage, the organisers provided a glimpse into the lives of the families of 15 victims and survivors, and their struggle for justice for over three decades. A pictorial book was released, while an exhibition of photographs was staged at the venue.

Darshan Kaur, whose husband was killed in the violence, said they had been advised to forget the past and build their future. “For us, justice is the only way forward. Nothing less will do,” she said.

Lt Gen HS Panag (retd) said unarmed people were massacred in a pogrom launched by a political party, even as the state looked the other way. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Leader of the Opposition, said justice had not been delivered to the aggrieved even after so many years. “This was a massacre not of Sikhs but of humanity. The country feels ashamed at the international fora and this will remain so till justice is done,” he added.

Amnesty said that over the past three decades, at least 12 inquiry commissions and committees had probed the killings. Some of these concluded that leaders from then ruling party were involved in the attacks, it said.